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Los Angeles – Punk trio Green Day, up for six prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday will launch a five-week North American arena tour on April 15, the group’s Reprise Records label said. The 27-date trek, heavy on college towns, begins in Coral Gables, Fla. at the University of Miami’s Convocation Center, and wraps May 20 at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary. Green Day will perform during the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and will then play New Zealand, Australia and Japan in March. Their Grammy nominations include album of the year and rock album… Read more »
Los Angeles – British rock group Oasis has confirmed its first U.S. shows in three years, which will come in support of its as-yet-untitled new studio album. The band will play Toronto (June 17), Detroit (June 18), Chicago (June 20), New York (June 22) and Philadelphia (June 25), with support from Australian rock outfit Jet. Tickets for all shows go on sale Feb. 12 via Ticketmaster. The dates will be sandwiched between a run of European and U.K. performances, including previously announced visits to the German Hurricane and Southside festivals. The new album, a follow-up to 2002’s “Heathen Chemistry,” is… Read more »
Miami, Florida – Following the announcement of his first ever tour of South America, Lenny Kravitz has released the details of the US leg of his world tour. Lenny Kravitz’s ELECTRIC CHURCH: ONE NIGHT ONLY! tour is scheduled to kick off in Dallas, TX on April 5th and will feature the artist performing a series EXCLUSIVE theater dates in 27 cities across the US and Canada. These one-time-only shows promise to be a must-see experience for fans in the US, who have never been able to catch him perform live in such a raw and intimate setting. Tickets will go… Read more »
New York – As rap stars go, Jin has the typical look down cold: Hoodie, baggy sweats, chunky diamond stud earring, a Chinese character tattooed on his neck and a large blingy necklace. Not everything’s typical, though. “Yeah, I’m Chinese. And what?” he asks with mock exasperation. At just 22, the Miami-bred, New York-based rapper is something of a pioneer – the first Asian-American hip-hop artist to get a major solo record deal. At the same time, he worries that it’s his race, not his rhymes, generating all the attention. “Being Asian helps me so much,” he says. “It definitely… Read more »
In the midst of one of the most passionate and pivotal elections in history, as the early returns are coming in, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), the organization co-founded by Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis which has spent the past 18 months dedicated to inspiring and mobilizing young people to go to the polls, is witnessing the fruits of its labors today – long lines of young voters. In April of 2003, HSAN launched its Hip-Hop Team Vote Youth Voter Initiative at a Hip-Hop Summit in Detroit with Eminem and Nas. Its Philadelphia Summit in August of 2003… Read more »
Diana DeGarmo, the “American Idol” runner-up, sang the national anthem before the Busch race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. While it was her first trip to the track south of Atlanta, it wasn’t her first NASCAR race. “The first race I ever went to was the Brickyard 400 when I was 10 or 11,” the 17-year-old singer said. “That was a blast. I got a hat and bear, the whole thing.” DeGarmo lives in Snellville, a suburb east of Atlanta. Her first album, “Blue Skies,” is scheduled to be released Dec. 7.
In Britain, Busted are headlining stadiums. In America, the pop-punk trio are playing parking lots outside stadiums. So which do they prefer? Prepare to be surprised. “It’s awesome at gigs here, because you kind of have to win the crowd over,” bassist Matt Jay said recently. “Like in England, it’s awesome and stuff, but we could just go ‘Bugger!’ and they would go ‘Yeah!’ Which is awesome, but here, you really have to work hard.” “It’s nice to kind of see the first-time reaction of the crowds again,” guitarist James Bourne added. “It’s like it’s a little déjà vu of… Read more »
The age limit for “American Idol” contenders has been raised, but not by much. Two years has been added to the maximum age for the talent competition, which had been 26, Fox TV said Thursday. The minimum is 16. Prompting the change: The fact that so many impressive people older than previously allowed had to be turned away, said Fox programming chief Gail Berman. “I’m sure there are people who are tremendously talented above that but we’re talking about people who hope to have pop careers afterward,” Berman told the Television Critics Association. Auditions for the fourth season begin Aug.… Read more »
Green Day’s first studio album in four years will be titled “American Idiot,” a spokesperson told Billboard.com. The set is tentatively due Sept. 14 via Reprise. It’s the follow-up to 2000’s “Warning,” which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 998,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Along with No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Bad Religion and others, Green Day is expected to lend a track to “Rock Against Bush Vol. 2,” the second in a series of politically minded compilations due this August. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong will also contribute two songs to… Read more »
